The Black Cats always believed their blueprint would give them a better chance of survival than some of the clubs that have been promoted and then fallen straight back through the relegation trapdoor.
This is how they got here – and why they are here to stay.
Granit Xhaka’s leadership is rubbing off on his teammates (Photo: Getty)
Xhaka isn’t just one of the team’s most important players, he is also one of their leaders and it says much about Le Bris’ management that he is happy for the Switzerland international to assume that role. “It’s a self-policing dressing room,” one source says. For all that Le Bris is the biggest voice during the week, he leaves it to Xhaka and other influential players to deliver the messaging on match days.
The culture
When Sunderland were in advanced talks with players in the summer, they sent a two-and-a-half minute video over WhatsApp to showcase the city, club and culture they would be joining. It is inspirational stuff, apparently, splicing together what it means to represent the Black Cats.
“They don’t see themselves as some great underdog story,” a source says. “They expect to win games in the Premier League and, perhaps because they’re young, there’s tremendous belief.” They will go to Old Trafford this weekend expecting to beat Manchester United.
You can understand why others didn’t take the plunge. There wasn’t much of a body of work to call on – less than 40 senior games in the Eredivisie – and there were more experienced goalkeepers on the market for risk-averse recruitment teams.
Robin Roefs has arguably been the best signing of the summer (Photo: Getty)Sunderland were seeking a definitive upgrade on Anthony Patterson and they have just that. His command of his penalty area is seriously impressive, he carries himself impeccably and at just 22 seems to have a seriously impressive future ahead of him.
Regis Le Bris
A singular, driven character, Le Bris is an absolute workaholic. Consistently first in and last out at the training ground, insiders describe a man who is consumed by the role and “gives everything” to it. He is also hugely ambitious, always seeing himself as someone who would manage in the Premier League, and has been compared more than once to Arsene Wenger.
Sources speak of an alignment between him, director of football Florent Ghisolfi and owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus which has allowed the recruitment process to be seamless. They absolutely back him.
That belief informed the urgency with which Sunderland recruited and invested. In almost every position they were looking to upgrade and The i Paper understands that there is scope to recruit further in January if they need to. They had scouts out in France last weekend.
Le Bris is amiable, polite and unassuming in public. But the standards he drives are high and the way Sunderland have been able to move up a level this summer sent a message to the players who were already at the club – no-one can feel too comfortable.
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Bigger tests ahead
They have played a struggling West Ham and the two toughest games on paper have been against Villa and Forest who are both in the midst of a transition period. But they also went to Palace and earned a battling point.
The buzz around the city is fantastic and there is a feeling inside the dressing room that they deserve to be where they are. This is a confident bunch that will fancy their chances when the bigger games – and sterner tests – start.
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